A Blue Christmas
by Astrid Goes For A Spin
Summary: After a day of demons, pain, torture, scary, life-destroying underground rivers, bloodthirsty Titans – normal Christmas stuff – going home should have been great. But when you look like you've just been put through a shredder, stepdads like to ask questions.


**I'm sorry, I'm just addicted to Christmas. I got the Demigod Files yesterday...and well, this is what happened. XD**

**As always with Percy, I tried to keep to the goofy Rick Riordan style. :) **

**And about the name...well, I love Christmas. And Christmas songs. All year round. XDDD I had to do wordplay. You know, blue, Percy, his mom, and (of course) Christmas.**

**No, not a songfic since most of those are pretty...I don't know. Too emotional for me, I guess. But if anyone doesn't know how the song goes, just look it up. It's quite nice, actually. :)**

* * *

Going home wasn't as fun as it should have been.

It was Christmas – presents, a tree, blue cookies. And my mom, the only person in the world that had been with me through just about everything, made all the better by the fact she could see through the Mist. There had never been any explanations with her; no pretending.

Paul, as hard as it was to not talk about my entire life around, was something I was looking forward to, too. It was nice to have what resembled a family.

When I knocked on the door, it had to be around eleven. Thalia and had split ways after cheeseburgers and her satisfaction that I would be able to get home without dying. I could hear my mom rushing at the door and all of a sudden it flung open, and I was in my mom's arms.

After a day of demons, pain, torture, scary, life-destroying underground rivers, bloodthirsty Titans – normal Christmas stuff – I'd never been so grateful to be home. I mean, that was overtime; I wasn't even at camp.

"Percy!" She tugged me through the door, closing and locking it. "What in the world happened to you?" She said loud enough for Paul, who was lagging a little behind, to hear, "I got a call saying you left your English exam early, but … that was hours ago."

I almost smiled, it was so nice to be here. "Percy." Paul's gaze was slightly (very slightly) disappointed, but more worried. "What is going on?"

"Uh." I was trying (getting a little better, but still trying) to sum up my day in a code my mom could understand but would sound mildly acceptable to Paul, which wasn't ideal. "Um, well. My … uh, poodle … showed up at school, and I followed her into the city-" My mom pushed me back by the shoulders to get a good look at me and instinctively I winced, my body not used to the lack of injury.

"Wait." My mom's voice was deadly quiet. "Percy. Why are there – slash marks in your shirt?"

"Ha." I rubbed the back of my head with my used-to-be bad arm, telling my mom wordlessly what had happened. _Monster. Bad. Ambrosia and nectar._ She understood, but how would Paul…?

"I followed Mrs. O'Leary into the city, and, uh…" What could have slashed my shirt like that but left my skin untouched? Or was it. Did I have a scar? How could we possibly explain this to Paul? "I got in ah… knife fight."

Paul's eyes widened, and I tried to reconcile the lie to my family with myself. It was technically right, right? Thalia had knives, plus, to Paul, what would be the difference between a disguised knife and a disguised (not to mention magic) sword?

"Did you report them? Why haven't we gotten a call from the police?" Paul seemed livid, though not at me. If I didn't know better, I'd've thought he was gonna grab one of my javelins and charge out to get them.

"Mm…" I needed an excuse, and fast. "It was a gang. You know how that is, if you rat them out they get you." My mom was nodding like this was absolutely fine. Okay, then…would Paul believe a quick lie about the shoulder? I might even get out of school for a couple of days if I played it right. After all, I couldn't control the Mist.

"It's okay, a couple of my friends came and helped me out." Immediately my mom's eyes flickered with concern, and I could follow her train of thought. _How many demigods, exactly, in the same place?_

"Helped you-" Paul's eyes darkened. I'm sure he was envisioning a full on gang fight, which, in truth, probably would have turned out a heck of a lot worse: Riptide doesn't work on mortals. No telling with Nico, though. Unless Paul already thought I was _part_ of a gang?

"Yeah, and the slash stuff; one of my friends is really good with First Aid, so she bandaged me up and stuff until I could get to-" Could I get away with saying camp? I didn't want to have my mom think I managed to get all the way to Long Island, but when the hospital bill didn't arrive… And I couldn't exactly say Thalia had stitched me together in some dark alley. It was beginning to seem like the only way. Or maybe I hadn't needed stiches in my imaginary Paul-world? It had just been a scratch. A surface wound.

"Um, yeah. So, I was fine, just a scratch." I made a face at my mom, and she whimpered in sympathy.

"Oh, Percy, honey." She grabbed me again, holding me so tight I was afraid I might pop. "You've had such a long day. You should go straight to bed." Her arm still wrapped around me protectively, she led me to my bedroom.

As soon as the door was closed, I dropped onto the bed and acted as exhausted as I actually was. "Gods…"

My mom sat on the edge and patted my shoulder. "Percy, what happened?"

"It started with Mrs. O'Leary. She just … appeared right in the middle of the auditorium, started going nuts… I had to get rid of the test to go after her – she was running right into the park, I met Thalia, who was chasing a deer made of gold, and Nico …" I began to explain in as much detail as I could bear to tell my mom. I mean, the whole description of the feeling of demon poison chewing off my arm wouldn't have been a good bedtime story.

As soon as she found out I'd been injured, like, you know, _really_ injured (as in, worse than the pit scorpion) she tore my shirt from the slits in it already, which were feeding into the seam. There were four angry red lines that even as we watched were attempting to fade to a pinker scar.

"I thought you said you'd been healed?"

I shrugged, not feeling any pain at all. In fact, I was pretty energized. "It's getting better. I'm sure I'll be fine." After Bob the Titan, that is.

"How much ambrosia did you have?"

I shuddered. "Way too much. I'm lucky for like, six different reasons that I'm here now."

"This is not a time for presents."

"Nuh-uh."

"Mm." My mom seemed to be trying to think of a solution. "Have you told Annabeth about this yet?"

"I wasn't supposed to tell you, remember? But Persephone's on our side, I think. Plus, Hades was … kind of happy, I guess. In a very smart way?" I was trying to think of a way to tell Annabeth everything that had happened without use of any cell phones. "Could you send a message to camp? I think I'm gonna sleep in tomorrow." I grinned. I usually spent Christmas to my mom, when I wasn't trekking across the country on a suicide mission or following carnations in the Underworld. Even though I went to camp for break it was nice to be home, too.

My mom cast her eyes around the room, gazing at a plastic water bottle from last night. "Here, Percy." She pulled a few tissues from a box on my windowsill, wetting them. Already my shoulder thrummed with anticipation. She pressed the watery pad onto my shoulder for a moment, then lifted it to peer at the injury. She dabbed experimentally.

I looked too, and saw that the pink seemed a lot fainter than before. As we watched, they melted almost all the way into my skin and left thin white lines.

My mom leaned over to kiss it. "Huh." She straightened up and smiled. "All better now."

"Yeah," I agreed, grinning. "All better."


End file.
